(Updates with premarket stock moves, company's description of
primary endpoint)
Seattle Genetics Inc. (SGEN) ended a midstage trial, saying its
cancer drug dacetuzumab didn't look likely to meet the main goal of
the test.
Shares were down 16% in premarket activity on the news. Through
Friday, the stock was down 12% from its all-time high hit last
month, though it's still up by nearly a half so far this year.
The biotechnology company is collaborating on the drug's
development with Genentech Inc. (DNA), which Roche Holding AG
(RHHBY) bought earlier this year.
The company said a combination of drugs including dacetuzumab
failed to show an adequate response rate versus the combination of
drugs with a placebo.
The drug, used in chemotherapy, was being tested in patients
with a type of lymphoma, a cancer that starts in the lymph node
immune system.
A Seattle Genetics spokeswoman said the study's primary endpoint
was a superior complete response rate by adding dacetuzumab to
Rituxan plus chemotherapy versus adding a placebo to that
treatment.
Chief Executive Clay Siegall said Seattle Genetics was
disappointed by having to end the study but said the drug is being
tested in patients with other types of cancer.
Results from an early-stage clinical trial evaluating
dacetuzumab combined with Rituxan and Gemzar will be announced Dec.
7. In the cancelled trial, dacetuzumab and placebo combined with
combination with Rituxan plus ifosfamide, carboplatin and etoposide
chemotherapy.
-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291;
joan.solsman@dowjones.com
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